Perhaps too late, but anyways - here it goes:

1st one:
B1: unarm or equip dagger
B2: equip bow-and-arrow or doublehanded weapon
B3: equip onehanded or one-handed and shield
B4: equip dual

How to use this:
Formula is: A or B
If only one is aviable, it is selected.
If both of them is aviable A is selected first. Repetely pressing the button switches the selected weapon between A and B.
If none is pressed a default weapon is selected(in this case unarmed), or nothing happens.

2nd one:
B1: Pause the game and enter weaopn selection screen, or unpause game and hide selection screen. Sort of like the large screenie, but I was thinking of more like mafia style. If you choose to make a system like that, I would make some priority of where to put the weapon icon selection thingy so it gets a little easier to acces fewer weapons(depending on the gamepad ofcourse).

3rd one:
B1 and B2 scroll between the following weapons: 1 handed, two handed and bows
B3 unarm the player or equip the dagger
B4 equip/unequip the shield

4th one:
About the same as your system, with one major differance: Pressing a button first selects the highest priority weapon and then repetly pressing the same button switches between them...

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Original post by sirGustav 4th one: About the same as your system, with one major differance: Pressing a button first selects the highest priority weapon and then repetly pressing the same button switches between them...

They'll need to be capable of exiting combat mode. So I suppose unarmed will need to be along the ring like weapons instead of in the center, and the center will need to be used to exit combat. I was thinking of puting the last equipment that was equipped in the center when the character is outside of combat. It would also be in the ring as normal, but just pressing and releasing equip would instantly pull out your last configuration. Pressing again would put it away.

Take a look at this mess. These are the animations I've come up with so far that will be needed. This is per weapon. For example, short swords will need to have all of the animations under 1-hand, 1-hand and shield, and dual. The [primary] and [secondary] stuff is just referring to which sheath of the hip to use. Since stuff can be picked up even when the character's sheaths are full, things can get a bit ugly. Like having to put a primary weapon in a secondary sheath - or pulling a secondary weapon from a primary sheath.
Yep, I'm gonna be busy for a while.

If you're going to be using improvised weapons like pitchforks and pencils, make sure the controls are fast and intuitive. I recommend having a "throw weapon" command that can be used either to drop a large weapon or throw a small one. I'd like to smash zombies with a hammer until the head flies off (of the hammer) and then whip the splintered handle at another zombie while I reach for my hatchet.

Just thought I would update with results:



It's fully functional now. I'm still not liking the unarmed selection (straight up selection). Anyone have any better ideas for representing that?

Oh well, it will do for now :)
Thanks again for the help

That looks really good!

I especially like the little "connecting beam" pointing at the highlighted item set. Very handy, and aesthetically pleasing, as well.

To be honest, I like the little kung-fu guy for unarmed, but it is a little inconsistent with the others. Maybe just a fist, or two hands, one in a fist and the other in a knife-hand position, like a close-up on Bruce Lee's hands or something.

If unarmed is also the position needed for manipulating the environment and picking up improvised weapons, then maybe it would be best to show just some empty hands. A big flat "high five" could get the message across.

Thanks for the compliments. And if you're just making them up, even more thanks :P -I can always use more inspiration.

I was considering using fists. I just don't know how that might look - having them cut off at the wrists. Maybe if I could fade the wrists out instead. Or maybe it would help turning the kung-fu guy into a 3D model statue type thingo. There's just not too many ways to represent unarmed.

The unarmed posture is for combat only, though. When the equip ring is opened during a combat posture, the center ring selection represents an action called "revert". Using revert will cause your character to exit a combat stance. If they are not in a combat stance, they will completely exit combat mode.

For an example, the character can have a short sword and shield out. While so, they can run around, slash, block, and all the normal combat stuff. But then they can also enter a "shield stance". Basically just a more defensive stance (I think I explained above somewhere). Anyway, the character uses revert to exit the shield stance and return to normal "short sword and shield" mode. They press revert again to exit combat entirely and put away the weapons.

So revert is in the center when the ring is opened during combat. But outside of combat mode, the center ring selection will contain the last combat mode that was selected. When the player presses and releases the equip ring button quickly enough, the ring will not open and the center selection will be activated instantly. So if in shield stance, and you want to exit combat mode, just two quick clicks on the ring button. To get back to short sword & shield from relaxed mode, just a single quick click. I'm also planning to add instant access to the nine selections of the ring through definable keys or buttons, but I think most players will probably use the ring. Or they may map one or two specific configurations to instant keys and use the ring for everything else.

I figured the most flexible way to impliment this is through a script for each posture. So the engine sends a command to the posture script to disarm certain gear, and the script will automatically find suitable empty sheaths and play animations to stow that equipment. And when the engine sends a command to arm, the posture script checks to see what is missing and arms that equipment from wherever it can find it.

It sounds complex, but the posture scripts can be very specific - unlike the game's engine code. They know their character only has two hands and exactly what kind of sheaths are envolved. That means the engine code is left fully flexible for crazy eight armed robots and other junk.

Sorry, went off a bit. Guess I needed a break.
Thanks again for those compliments :)

I demand a screenshot of a crazy eight-armed robot.

If there's an "unarmed" combat stance, then won't it be confusing for the "unarmed" selection guy to be in a stance? He should look like he's in "run around mode".

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Original post by Iron Chef Carnage I demand a screenshot of a crazy eight-armed robot.

Heheh. I just mean that writing game code that is specific to 2-hands really limits the types of characters I can use. Even though robots may not have eight arms, they may have eight active weapons at once. That means no where in code am I allowed to assume a maximum of two readied weapons. And it's very difficult / complex to handle unarming and arming of equipment when weapons in any sheath can go in any hands and vice versa.

If the character has both side-arm sheaths full, he can still pick up side-arm weapons. He'll just drop them instead of sheathing them. But if he only has his primary sheath full (dual-side secondary is empty), and has a single side-arm weapon in his primary hand, then he has to stow his primary weapon into the secondary sheath. This flexibility is adding up to a lot of animations. But I've got nearly all of them done, after one solid day of nothing but.

Quote:

If there's an "unarmed" combat stance, then won't it be confusing for the "unarmed" selection guy to be in a stance? He should look like he's in "run around mode".

The unarmed selection guy is for combat unarmed mode. The 'revert' selection, which exits combat mode, is just a symbol. But I haven't actually figured out what to make it look like yet. Here's an updated snap, with revert in the center. The arrows symbol is just a placeholder:



That symbol would only be there while in combat mode. Outside of combat mode, the center would just be the last combat mode you used. Everything on the outside of the ring will always be combat modes.

I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand the revert button. Maybe it's just me, but I can't seem to make sense as to when it would be useful.

I presented this idea a while back, but it was disguised by a whole lot of gibberish so you probably didn't notice.
It's very simple actually. Instead of having a button for each configuration, have a button for each weapon or shield.
Selecting a weapon/shield will switch between equiping it and sheathing it. You could show a small symbol next to each button, informing you when it's already in your hands (just for reference).
They will always take the same place in the menu so a sword/shield combination is easier to remember (menu + shield + menu + sword).

This would allow for an insane amount of configurations, while being very intuitive and easy. I know it might be too big of a change from your current code, but anyways, here it is just in case you like it :)

Quote:

Original post by Jotaf I'm sorry, but I don't quite understand the revert button. Maybe it's just me, but I can't seem to make sense as to when it would be useful.

If you're in a relaxed stance, and you enter standing spear combat stance, then enter crouching spear combat stance, then enter crawling spear combat stance, revert would take you to crouching spear combat stance, then it would take you to standing spear combat stance, then it would take to relaxed stance. It's used to exit combat stances. A fall-back. A less tactical reversion. The spear hierarchy is a made up example, though. I doubt I'll have three levels deep.

Quote:

I presented this idea a while back, but it was disguised by a whole lot of gibberish so you probably didn't notice. It's very simple actually. Instead of having a button for each configuration, have a button for each weapon or shield.

This is what Iron Chef mentioned in his first reply. The problem is that unless every action is mapped to a key, it's impossible to arm two items at once. It might not sound like much of a hassle. But when your character specializes in dual swords, it can become a real kick in the ass to press a button, hold a direction, release, press a button, hold a direction, release, just to kill some simple critter in your way. That's not considering the fact that the player would also have to unarm some gear to make sure the equipment gets selected into the desired hand. It's why I made sure the last selection they used gets centered. One single button press and they have all of their crazy stuff out.

Quote:

Selecting a weapon/shield will switch between equiping it and sheathing it. You could show a small symbol next to each button, informing you when it's already in your hands (just for reference). They will always take the same place in the menu so a sword/shield combination is easier to remember (menu + shield + menu + sword).

You don't think it's easy to select the exact configuration you want and let the character handle all of the details? They automatically stow and/or drop conflicting gear, and pull out everything they need to get the job done in one go.

Quote:

This would allow for an insane amount of configurations, while being very intuitive and easy. I know it might be too big of a change from your current code, but anyways, here it is just in case you like it :)

There's only one situation I can think of that will fill all of the ring selections. If the player has an axe in one side arm sheath, a short sword in the opposite side, and a spear and shield on the back. Each weapon and each with shield, that's 6, then add unarmed. That leaves one empty for a possible axe + sword posture, which I'm not even sure I'm gonna do yet. Might need to save that kind of stuff for a sequel.